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====== Haikjadeam ======

The haikjadeam are perhaps the least-understood of the Lensmoorian races. They have no analog in conventional fantasy literature, the closest equivalents being various antagonist species in AD&D. This makes them rather elusive to characterize, and few players seem to choose a haikjadeam as compared to the more glamorous sidhe or the magically adept sprites. This file expands upon the haikjadeam information that Lensmoor provides in the basic help file, in the hopes that such a characterization aid will encourage more haikjadeam play.

===== Physiology and Biology =====

==== Overview and Basic Anatomy ====

The most common characterization of the haikjadeam is "snake people." While accurate in the most general sense, this is rather vague and lends itself to a wide array of potential misunderstandings. The haikjadeam do share several physiological similarities with serpents, but this is an accident of biology — they are full bipeds with a bone and joint structure very similar to that of humans.

The haikjadeam originated in the jungles of Tikol. They evolved from the jayadeam, a large reptilian predator that occupies the niche in the Tikolian food chain common to the large felines (panthers, etc.) of other regions. Jayadeam are now almost extinct, as humans and sidhe hunted them for sport before the haikjadeam declared their unilateral protection of the jayadeam. Most remaining jayadeam are now found as domestic guard animals and hunting partners in haikjadeam settlements.

Note: the closest real-world analog to the jayadeam is the Komodo dragon. See http://www.sciam.com/1999/0399issue/0399ciofi.html for information on the creatures on which the haikjadeam are loosely based.

Male haikjadeam usually range between 5'4" and 5'8" in height between 130 and 180 pounds in mass. Females have substantially larger frames and more muscle mass, with normal heights of 5'7" to 6'2" and weights of 170 to 240 pounds. Despite these height/weight distributions, haikjadeam are actually proportionally slimmer than mammalian humanoids of comparable height — reptile muscle fibers are substantially denser than those of mammals.

Haikjadeam have five digits on each limb. The inner- and outermost digits of their hands are fully opposable, giving them three "fingers" and two "thumbs." Each digit is tipped with a hard vestigial claw that is not long enough to be a threat in combat or to hinder fine manipulation. In terms of body proportions (ratios of limb lengths to torso length, etc.), haikjadeam are virtually identical to humans, which gives rise to speculation that the haikjadeam may have been the subject of magical or divine "adjustment" at some point in their racial history. This is borne out by the race's lack of a tail — jayadeam have thick, muscular tails that are approximately half as long as their torsos, and the haikjadeam should have inherited this feature.

Haikjadeam ancestry is most evident in their facial features. They do not have the flattened facial plane and roughly spherical head of the mammalian humanoids, instead possessing the elongated head and snout common to most reptiles. Their jaws hold 42 needlelike teeth, ½" to ¼" long, and two 1" fangs that fold flat against the roof of the mouth when not extended for an attack. A haikjadeam goes through three sets of teeth in her lifetime: hatchling, which she has when she emerges from the egg; youth, which she acquires at two years of age; and adult, which come in during her sixth year.

The eyes are set at the long-axis midpoint of their heads and at a slight off angle, giving haikjadeam superior peripheral vision at the cost of long-range focus. Their ears are an inch or so lower and farther back than the comparable position on a human and are almost entirely internal, save for a slight ridge of cartilage. The nostrils are offset to the sides of the snout's tip. They are much larger than those of a human, but haikjadeam have full control over the muscles around the nostrils and can fully close them when biting in combat to avoid inhaling a victim's blood. The haikjadeam tongue is flat and thin with a wedge-shaped flare at the tip; some individuals have forked tongues, but most have a blunt or slightly concave tongue-tip. It is long enough to extend a full 9" past the lips. Two small glands in the floor of the mouth are believed to provide the haikjadeam with a secondary sense of "smell," though haikjadeam refer to this sense, taste, and smell as three distinct senses.

==== Venom (see help natural weaponry and help envenom) ====

Many observers pay particular attention to the haikjadeam venom glands. In the jayadeam, venom is used to kill prey within a matter of seconds, usually by paralyzing the muscles of the heart. Haikjadeam venom is much more potent, but is injected in very small doses: less than a single drop with each bite. This keeps the haikjadeam's venom reservoirs well-stocked at all times — an adult haikjadeam can inject over two hundred doses of venom before the glands become depleted. The glands are located in the roof of the mouth, extending back toward the sinus cavities. Haikjadeam reflexively inject venom with every solid bite, and only the most practiced adult warriors are able to control this muscular contraction. Each haikjadeam is immune to her own venom, though that of another haikjadeam is potentially fatal. A haikjadeam can, with concentration, expel a small dose of venom to bottle or to apply to the blade of a weapon, but its chemical structure breaks down rapidly once exposed to open air.

==== Coloration ====

Haikjadeam skin is not scaled, contrary to what casual observation may suggest. Instead, it has a rough, pebbly texture, and most haikjadeam spend at least an hour a day bathing or soaking in hot springs to keep dirt and dust out of their skin. Typical haikjadeam coloration ranges from dark gray to bright green, usually with various shades of green mottled across the skin. The chest, stomach, and inner areas of the upper arms and thighs are usually much lighter, with colors here varying between dark green and bright yellow. Some less common coloration patterns do exist; these include deep sapphire blues and purples and the very occasional dark red. The vestigial claws are dark, dull gray. Haikjadeam eyes have vertical slit pupils of almost liquid black set against a bright red, orange, or yellow eyeball. A haikjadeam whose eyes appear cloudy or dull in color has extended her nictitating membranes for protection against glare or dust.

==== Reproduction ====

Haikjadeam reproduce by laying eggs. Haikjadeam females come into season between the Months of the Butterfly and the Elephant (see help calendar). Each individual female is fertile for a period of one to two weeks, during which the skin on her throat and chest shades to white or pink and she gives off intense pheromones that most other races describe as smelling of apricots. Male haikjadeam do not describe these pheromones in olfactory terms.

Mating begins (physically, at any rate; the social components will be discussed later) with both participants stimulating their partners' erogenous zones with their tongues and claws. These areas include the snout, the bony ridge above the eye, and the folds of skin around the hips. Coupling occurs as with most other reptiles, with the male mounting the female in a position that ensures contact between the participants' cloaca. This multipurpose orifice, common to reptiles and birds, is located in the same area of the pelvis as the primary genitalia of humans, and serves the same functions.

Once fertilization occurs, the female carries the eggs until the Month of the Snake. She lays between two and eighteen fist-sized eggs in a single clutch. Tradition and biology demand that the clutch be laid in a depression on the east face of a hill and covered with earth and twigs.

The eggs hatch near the end of the Month of the Fox. The hatchlings weigh less than a pound each. They emerge from the egg with fully functioning venom glands and are capable of digesting raw meat — the most common source of which is their clutchmates, but which also includes small lizards, snakes, and birds. Typical clutches experience 80% fatalities within the first week after hatching.

==== Development ====

Haikjadeam hatchlings mature rapidly. They are able to walk upright within two weeks of hatching, and begin speaking by three months of age. They reach full physical development in 5 to 6 years and enter old age after 50 to 60 years. The oldest known haikjadeam without magical life extension died at 81.

==== Internal Functions ====

Haikjadeam are reptilian and thus cold-blooded. They prefer warm environments and do not function well in temperatures below 60 degrees, though minor spells that retain internal warmth in cooler climates are common among haikjadeam travelers. At 40 degrees or less, an unprotected haikjadeam will go into hibernation in a matter of minutes and will not awaken without magical assistance unless the temperature rises above 75 degrees.

The haikjadeam digestive system is optimized for raw meat, preferably swallowed in large chunks. The lower jaw is hinged and can dislocate with no ill effects, allowing a haikjadeam to swallow a chunk of meat up to the size of her paired fists, and a haikjadeam can consume up to 50% of her body weight in a matter of minutes (though in modern times this rarely occurs, except in the case of an egg-carrying female). However, haikjadeam are not pure carnivores; they gain various dietary supplements from certain plants and fruits, and many who deal with other races' cooking develop a great appreciation for sweets. Additionally, most haikjadeam recognize the nutritional benefits of cooking, with the exception of certain throwback cultures in the more remote parts of Tikol, so consumption of raw meat is usually restricted to traditional ceremonies or situations where an adventurer finds herself low on supplies in a remote area. Haikjadeam metabolize alcohol in the same manner as mammals and are quite capable of becoming intoxicated.

===== Culture =====

==== Overview ====

Haikjadeam are matriarchal, a remnant of jayadeam social behavior. Despite mammalian stereotypes of haikjadeam as primitive and lazy, they are as industrious and sophisticated as any other race. They do tend to favor the use of natural materials in building and crafting, but this is due to their origin in a metal-poor, stone-poor region. In general, haikjadeam culture is most advanced in the areas of herbal healing, mathematics, architecture, and oral history.

==== Communities ====

Haikjadeam evolved from a semi-arboreal predator species. This is reflected in their choice of construction: multi-level platforms suspended from the oldest trees and connected by intricate rope and wood walkways. Most haikjadeam communities are built with an eye toward defense, with the most essential areas toward the center and upper levels and easily-rebuilt homes around the perimeter. The only element of the town that is not built above ground level is the communal hatching ground, which is located within easy walking distance.

Such an arrangement is vulnerable to several hazards that would not affect ground-level stone dwellings. The most feared is a town-wide fire; the community of Hassis has been rebuilt no less than six times after such catastrophes. Areas which require open flames, such as smithies, have inner walls which are lined with several layers of specially treated leather to minimize the danger of fire, and most haikjadeam who work in such establishments are familiar with stronger variants of the "extinguish" spell (see help extinguish).

==== Politics ====

Haikjadeam social groups are matriarchies, a holdover from jayadeam behavior patterns in which one dominant female and a handful of lesser females are served by a harem of males who hunt for and guard their nests. In modern haikjadeam society, settlements are governed by a council of the eldest five active females. Each of these takes an equal number of younger females (typically two to four) as protégés. All other females who have bred at least once are allowed to observe council meetings and participate if acknowledged by one of the council members, but they have no voting voice.

Males are not allowed to speak in council meetings unless they have proven themselves to be indispensable to the community, and they are never given a council seat (though some rare males may occasionally be taken as political protégés by particularly nontraditional females). As a matter of practicality, however, male specialists (usually craftsmen) usually offer council members informal advice in their respective fields of expertise.

The council decides all issues of community importance through debate, and through majority vote if need be. This tradition has made debate the foremost spectator sport among haikjadeam of both genders, and a quick wit is one of the most valued qualities among the race. Outside observers generally believe that this tradition is a deliberate effort to channel the haikjadeam predatory instinct into a less lethal form of decision resolution.

Council members sit until they are physically unable to carry out their duties or until the other four council members unanimously judge them unfit for further service. When a council member must be replaced due to death, illness, or unsuitability to rule, the other four council members select her replacement from among her protégés.

==== Justice ====

Haikjadeam do not believe in lasting humiliation. Once an offender has received her punishment, her actions are never spoken of again unless she makes first mention of them. She is assumed to have learned her lesson unless she proves otherwise. With this in mind, it should be noted that most haikjadeam punishments are severe enough to make the offender know that she is being punished. Unlike some mammalian societies, haikjadeam believe that all punishment should be cruel and unusual, else the recipient will not learn from it. Most transgressions receive punishments that fit the crime in some poetic or ironic sense.

There are three capital crimes among the haikjadeam: rape, murder, and oathbreaking. All of these are punished by public execution, carried out by the community council. The criminal's body is ritually burned and her ashes are scattered in the sea, the hope being that her soul may be washed clean of the stain of her transgression.

The haikjadeam recognize rape as an act that can be committed by either gender, though most cases of rape occur during the months when haikjadeam females are in season and nearby males are in a state of constant low-level arousal due to pheromones. During this time, it is easy for a haikjadeam female to confront and subdue a smaller, weaker male and stimulate his body to full arousal against his conscious will. Conversely, an aggressive male can force full arousal on a female if he catches her unaware. Haikjadeam justice makes no differentiation based on the initiator; either way, the act is equally reprehensible.

Murder does not include death where lesser intent can be proven, though the penalty for accidental slaying can be severe enough to make the killer wish she were dead. "Murder" is defined as the deliberate and unprovoked killing of another sentient. Any assault in which a haikjadeam uses her fangs is assumed to be made with lethal intent.

Oathbreaking is perhaps the most severe capital crime among the haikjadeam, though this is a matter of very small degrees. An oathbreaker has shown not only that she is a threat to the individual, group, or deity to whom she was sworn, but that she cannot be trusted to fulfil any other oaths to which she may be held now or in the future. In short, the community can no longer consider her a viable member. The haikjadeam do recognize that circumstances change, and any individual who feels that she is bound by an unfair oath may petition the oathholder or the community council to release her from it. If she breaks the oath without requesting release, however, she has taken matters into her own hands and shown that she does not respect the community enough to live by its decisions.

==== Mating (see help mate and help marriage) ====

Though haikjadeam are sexually mature at age six, they do not reach full emotional maturity until perhaps twice this age. As with any other race, this leads to a great deal of experimental frolicking. Haikjadeam are quite capable of enjoying the physical act of coupling at any time, but the individual female is only in season for a brief period, one which is obvious to all observers. If an unmated female is found to be carrying fertile eggs, both responsible parties are given a scathing lecture on responsibility by the community council but receive no permanent censure. Given the talent for invective that the average council member possesses, the lecture leaves more than enough scars.

Individual tastes in mates vary, of course, but some generalities can be made. The most prized qualities of physical beauty in both haikjadeam genders include well-kept skin (smooth, with no dust accumulated in the crevices and no loose flakes) and claws, a slender, narrow facial bone structure, even teeth, and good general physical fitness. A forked tongue is a (probably apocryphal) sign of sexual prowess and promiscuity. The most respected intellectual qualities are a quick wit, skill with language, and an even temper (a must for a predatory species with deadly natural weapons).

The female is typically the aggressor in both adolescent and adult courtship, singling out a male whom she finds acceptable in appearance and manner and who she believes will be an adept partner in providing for the future pair and any hatchlings they raise. She makes her interest known through casual conversational contact and anonymous gifts (usually symbolic rather than economically valuable). If the male reciprocates her interest, he crafts (or commissions, though this is a sign of social ineptitude if it is revealed) a braided leather cord as a sign of his favor, leaving both parties names' hidden somewhere within the decorative patterns. He then leaves this favor tied outside the door of his beloved's dwelling. This does, of course, lead to the occasional embarrassing situation when one or more haikjadeam mistakenly choose the wrong individual in responding to anonymous gifts or tokens…

The token is less a firm commitment than it is an indicator of adolescent romance (in modern terms, a high school couple trading class rings). The place in which the female wears this token is an unspoken indicator of the level of intimacy that the relationship has reached. The wrist indicates casual mutual interest. The neck indicates a certain level of unconsummated physical desire. The ankle indicates intimate relations. If the female removes the braid and attaches it to her clothes, this is a statement that the male has somehow displeased her and had better make amends. This signal also has a variety of versions indicating varying degrees of displeasure: a collar position is mild, almost jesting, while a braid attached to a bag or other personal container says "I think so little of you that I do not even keep your favor on my person."

A haikjadeam couple generally enters a permanent mate-oath between the ages of 12 and 16, though adventurers and other frequent travelers may wait until as late as age 30 before making a commitment. As with casual romance, the female makes the first move in proposing such an arrangement. Through an intermediary, usually her closest female friend, she presents her intended mate with one of her hatchling-fangs (haikjadeam usually save their fangs from their hatchling and child sets of teeth). The unspoken question here is "do you think highly enough of me to sleep with my fangs next to your throat?" If the male returns the female's fang to her directly, he accepts her oath proposal. He indicates rejection by returning it through the same intermediary that she used to deliver it to him.

Once a couple has agreed upon entering a permanent living arrangement, they commit to each other by means of oaths sworn in front of the community council. The precise phrasing varies between communities and pairs, but it generally includes vows of mutual respect, mutual fidelity, and mutual property ownership (all household items are jointly held: if both use it, both own it). Traditionally, the male was required to swear an additional vow of subservience to the female, but this custom is only followed in the most conservative of communities.

Once a haikjadeam couple has sworn their mating vows, they are joined for life. The only way out of this oath is to prove to the community council that the couple has developed irreconcilable differences. The female retains all jointly-held property and half of the couple's liquid assets, as well as retaining care of all hatchlings the couple took as their own. The male is required to relocate to another community at least three days' walk away, to avoid future "misunderstandings."

==== Child Rearing ====

==== Religion ====

==== Aesthetics ====

==== Linguistics ====

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